10 Ways to Explore Berkeley Plantation in Charles City, Virginia
Our family loves visiting presidential sites and learning more about America’s history, so when we made plans to visit the Williamsburg, Virginia area we started researching new-to-us spots to explore. At the top of our list was Berkeley Plantation, the birthplace of Benjamin Harrison V (member of the Continental Congress, signer of the Declaration of Independence and three time governor of Virginia) and William Henry Harrison (the 9th American President), and the ancestral home of his grandson Benjamin Harrison (the 23rd American President).
The original property included 8,000 acres and three miles of riverfront on the James River in Virginia. Benjamin Harrison III purchased the property in 1691 and then deeded it to his son, Benjamin Harrison IV, who had the Georgian style main manor house built in 1726. One of the oldest brick homes in Virginia, it took five years to build with over 300,000 bricks. The plantation and shipyard had over 100 enslaved people working on it at one time. The positioning of the main house was on top of a hill that afforded the owners sweeping views of the James River. The house has a basement (once used as a jail, now a museum exhibit open to the public) and three floors, each with four rooms (the main floor is open for guided tours). Several presidents visited the estate including George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, James Monroe, John Tyler, Zachary Taylor, and Abraham Lincoln.
Benjamin Harrison VI lost the estate to bankruptcy and it was purchased by the Stock family, who lived there until 1907, when John Jamieson purchased it. The Jamieson family spent decades authentically restoring the property, and, in the 1940s opened the property for public tours. This year, 2026, the Berkeley Plantation is celebrating its 300th anniversary; it’s a great time to visit. the estate and learn about the families who lived here and their impact on American history.
Travel Tips:
10 Ways to Explore Berkeley Planation:
- View the 10 minute introductory video in the Coach House.
- Follow the family tree and lineage of Richard Lygon and Margaret Greville to see who lived on the property and when 10 presidents either lived on or visited the property in the Coach House.
- See the axes used to harvest timber and hanging tobacco in the Slave Houses.
- Listen to Taps being played at the Taps Monument. Taps was composed on the property in 1862 by Oliver Willcox Norton and the original bugle used to play it can be seen in the Basement Museum exhibits.
- Pay your respects at the Harrison Jamieson cemetery where Benjamin Harrison V and his wife Elizabeth Bassett Harrison, Malcolm Jamieson and his wife Grace, and an enslaved woman named Yellow Sarah are all buried.
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- Walk the quarter mile path down to the riverfront to see the Thanksgiving Monument (push the audio button to hear about the first official Thanksgiving Day service in America in 1619) and learn about the shipyard, the first on the James River, which produced 18 warships.
- Walk through some of the 10 acres of formal gardens including Boxwood Gardens, the Ladies Winter Garden, and Rose Gardens; when we visited in spring, roses, and were in bloom.
- Play I Spy while touring the first floor of the Manor House. Look for the various candelabras and candlelights, framed sheet music from the presidential campaign of William Henry Harrison, and the silver tea set in the North and South Great Rooms; place settings and the gong to call people to dinner in the Dining Room; and the chamber pot in the gentleman’s office. All furniture inside the Manor House is authentic to either the Harrison and Jamieson families.
- Head down to the Basement Museum and see collections of projectile points and archaeologist digs that uncovered Native American, Colonial, and Civil War artifacts, a video about the first Thanksgiving, an 18th century broom maker, a loom for making fabrics, a painting of Benedict Arnold encamped on the property in January 1781, and a corn sheller. Note: The Basement Museum is not handicap accessible and photography is not allowed.
- Walk through the Kitchen Dependency and see the gun over the hearth, the birdcage, kids table with playing cards, spinning wheel, and the collection of baking pots and dishes over the hearth.
Bonus: Keep an eye out for George, the “mascot” of the plantation. The friendly black cat wanders the property each day (helping to keep the mice population in check) and loves to receive attention from visitors.
Looking for other historical sites nearby? Check out our features of Colonial Williamsburg, the American Revolution Museum at Yorktown, Historic Yorktown, Jamestown Settlement, and Historic Jamestowne. Thomas Jefferson’s Monticello and James Monroe’s Highland are both in Charlottesville’s, an easy day trip from Charles City. And follow along on our adventures on Instagram and Facebook.
Disclosure: Our family was given a media pass to explore Berkeley Plantation; all opinions expressed are my own.
